Performance evaluation of beacons for indoor localization in smart buildings

Enforced by the concept of Internet of Things, indoor location services using Bluetooth Low Energy beacons has become a growing reality. Many systems of which, propose the use of Received Signal Strength Indicator based location methods. The unpredictable propagation of these signals, in combination with surrounding signal noise and variable environmental conditions, makes it difficult to implement such systems as a simple entity. With the multitude of beacons on the market, it may be difficult to develop an optimal indoor positioning system for the desired application. To help address this issue, this paper compares three popular beacons, presents a simple mobile application based Kalman filter, and explores the correlation between transmit power and desired Kalman filter parameters.